


Captain of That Icy Storm

by AMaskOnTwoFaces



Series: In Time We'll Thaw [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: He's not a major character in this story, Hydra (Marvel), Hydra Steve Rogers, I love how "Nick Fury's Grandfather" is a character tag, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Is Nick Fury a Major Character Death?, but only as much as the Winter Soldier is Hydra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2018-12-04 06:59:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11549928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMaskOnTwoFaces/pseuds/AMaskOnTwoFaces
Summary: EDITED: Now reposted!There are now two Assets.  A delineation must be made for clarity.“You are the Soldier.  He is the Captain.”The Soldier shows he understands.  These calls signs are acceptable.





	1. The Assets

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [the long game](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3241733) by [dirtybinary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dirtybinary/pseuds/dirtybinary). 



> This story was originally 898 words in its entirety, and it's what created my personal rule of having a night of sleep between writing and revising a work before I post it. When I reread this work, weeks after I posted it, I went ‘Wow, that’s bland. Not at all what I was hearing in my head.’
> 
> Essentially, I hated the original posting of this, and instead of just deleting it, I instead endeavored to rewrite this into something I could stand to show other people. These revisions finally happened, and while the plot is essentially the same, how the story is told has been (hopefully) improved (mainly expanded upon with a more coherent voice). I'm still uncertain how much better this actually is, since I've been staring at this for so long the past several months, but I really don't know how much more I can do to it without other people's opinions, so if you have any, please share!

**_The Assets_ **

The Asset has never had a need to call itself anything other than the Asset.  There has only ever been one Asset.

Recently, though, that has changed.  There are now two Assets.  A delineation must be made for clarity.

“You are the Soldier.  He is the Captain.”

The Soldier shows he understands.  These calls signs are acceptable.

*             *             *

Their handlers train the Captain against the Soldier.  In this, the Soldier finds that the Captain is the first singular opponent that it has had to work to win against.  At least, the first in the Soldier’s memories.

The Soldier knows it is missing memories.  The Soldier knows its handlers and their wipes are responsible for its missing memories.  The Soldier also knows that its memory wipes are imperative for its full functionality as an Asset.  Therefore, the Soldier’s missing memories must also be necessary, so it is not concerned by this state and has no need to change it.

Before the Captain, only large groups proved this difficult for Soldier to fight against.  However, while the Soldier is less proficient at close combat, the Captain has moments of confusion and hesitation that give the Soldier small advantages in their training.  The Soldier reports these malfunctions of the Captain to their handlers, since these imperfections are not acceptable.  Their handlers would want their assets to be as successful as possible.

The Captain is subjected to many wipes in order to increase its functionality and prevent these malfunctions from occurring.  Over time, the Captain ceases to have malfunctions during training.  The handlers are pleased with this progress.

Eventually, the Assets are sent on a first mission together.  This mission is a low level political assassination.  The security is unchallenging.  The Assets are heavily monitored throughout the mission, the Captain especially.  The Soldier extrapolates that this mission is meant as a trial run of the Captain’s functionality in the field.

The mission parameters state for the Captain to approach as if on a solo mission.  The Soldier will provide back-up if the Captain’s programming fails, but otherwise will only be providing assessment on the Captain’s field capability.

The mission is quickly completed to great success.  There are no malfunctions in the Captain’s programing.  The Soldier reports this to their handlers, who show great pleasure in this information.

The Assets continue to be sent on missions together following this first success.  They begin to work as a cohesive team, as well as individual agents, and eventually graduate to more difficult missions.

If the Soldier was asked for its opinion on this progress, it would state a preference for these more difficult missions, since it is used to operating at this level and finds these missions more challenging and engaging.  Of course, there is no reason to ask the Soldier for its opinion.  Why would it have an opinion?

*             *             *

It is much later, after several freezes, the Captain is sent on its first true solo missions.  The Captain’s programming continues to function optimally, so the Captain becomes known as a fully-functional Asset.  From then on, the Assets are used interchangeably; sometimes together, sometimes apart.  The difficulty of their missions have returned to normal parameters.

The Captain and the Soldier have slightly different skill sets, warranting the selection of a different Asset for different solo missions.  The Captain is slightly stronger and can wield a shield, making it better for close combat missions, especially against large groups of hostiles.  The Soldier has a near-perfect aim as a sniper, and tends to be used for long distance targets, especially assassinations.

When used in conjunction, the Soldier sometimes will be used to cover the Captain as the Captain engages in close combat.  During those moments, the Soldier might feel that the Captain’s field gear should be more colorful… perhaps with blue on it?

These thoughts do not affect the Soldier’s functionality on the field, so the Soldier does not report them to its handlers.  This formation of covering the Captain seems familiar, so the Soldier extrapolates that it is missing memories of working with the Captain previously.  Missing memories is usual, so there is no need to worry about what they contain, nor any reason to attempt to retrieve these memories.  There is a reason the handlers removed these memories, so if anything, the Soldier should be concerned if memories start returning.  This is not happening beyond the slight impressions the soldier is receiving, so it does not express any concern over these occurrences.

*             *             *

There was a mission with just the two Assets.  During this, the Captain called the Soldier ‘Bucky’.  The Soldier had not understood why it was being called such.  ‘Bucky’ is not an acceptable call sign.  The Soldier questioned where the Captain knew this call sign from.

“Who’s Bucky?”

The Captain did not know.  The Soldier extrapolates that it was most likely just an impression of a missing memory on the Captain’s part; no need for concern.  There seems to be a lot of these impressions the Assets have of missing memories regarding the other.  It is strange, since it seems like the Assets have worked together before, and yet the Captain is a new Asset.

However, this is not knowledge for the Assets to know; those memories must have been removed for a reason.

Yet the Soldier does not report these incidents, these malfunctions in their programming. 


	2. Hesitation

**_Hesitation_ **

The Captain’s programming is all new.  Unlike the Soldier, the Captain does not have decades of storage to allow it’s programming to settle into its mind.  There are slips, hesitations.

A Senator’s child daughter.  Witness.  Liability.  Collateral.

It should be an easy kill, well within mission parameters, but the Captain’s blade had wavered when it descended.

The Soldier does not mention this malfunction and malfunctions like these.

Perhaps they are just more impressions, ideas of lost memories.  Perhaps the Captain is remembering what is should not.

Perhaps the Captain’s hesitancy is affecting the Soldier.

“Buck.”

This call sign.  It is unusual, and it is not something decided by their handlers.  Because of that fact, the Soldier is hesitant about the Captain using it, but the Soldier is also becoming used answering to this unacceptable call sign.

The Soldier believes that the usage of this call sign is no longer accidental on the Captain’s part.  The Captain is deliberately avoiding usage of this call sign around their handlers.  The Captain might know that their handlers will deem this call sign extremely inappropriate.  The Soldier does not approve of this insubordination, but also does nothing to make the Captain cease using this call sign.  The punishment will be grave if (when) their handlers discover their disobedience.

The Soldier wonders if their handlers have caught the Captain in this malfunction before.  It is possible that the Soldier doesn’t remember because he was wiped.  Perhaps they were both wiped?  It is also possible that the Soldier doesn’t remember this because it didn’t happen.

It is hard for the Soldier to understand if this is a wrong they have already been punished for and are committing again when he cannot accurately remember if he is repeating past faults.

Regardless, the Soldier does not want to forget now.

He is growing… _attached_ to this call sign.

*             *             *

The Assets continue to be sent on missions, generally solo, but occasionally together.  The Assets are stored on ice between missions.  For some missions, only one Asset is taken out of storage.

The Soldier does not mention any programming malfunctions that occur during missions to their handlers.  The continued impressions, if not small memories, that continue their appearance in the Soldier’s mind.  He likes these memories, especially the ones of the Captain, possibly from before they were Assets (there was a before?) and does his best to not alert his handlers of their returned existence.  He does not see why these memories would impact his functionality; what purpose was served by the handlers removing them.

The Soldier concludes that the Captain also fails to report any incidents that may occur regarding any recovered memories or impressions, or of any incorrect call signs that might be used when the Assets are not monitored by their handlers.  Nothing has changed; no further memories have been removed (that they know of) and there has been no punishment regarding the improper call signs.

The Assets share whatever they know with each other, creating a messy timeline of memories between them.  They parse out what some impressions mean, what memories might be false; whatever intel they can think out that might be useful to the other.  (What the other might like to know.)

Eventually, the Assets are removed from storage together to find entirely new handlers; they have been sold as their previous owners were unable to continue funding the maintenance of such expensive weapons any longer.

The Assets know that this should bear no effect on them, that they are just weapons for their owners’ use, regardless of who their handers are and what their owners decide to use them for.  However, the Assets find themselves privately… uncertain regarding this change of ownership. 

They know that they have not always been Assets.  Was this absolute ownership by whoever could afford them what they intended when they became such?  ( _Why did they become Assets?_ )

*             *             *

Not much has changed in the Assets’ operation with their new owners.  The largest difference is that they must now operate in English instead of their natural Russian.  Strangely, learning this new language is easier than the Assets expected, even knowing how quickly most languages take them to grasp.  However, their handlers are not surprised by the speed of their progress, which is curious.

It is after they learn English that the Assets realize that their memories from before they were Assets were not in Russian, but in English; American English.  Were they Americans before they were Assets?  They know the political climates, at least of current times.  Why would Americans become Assets for Russians? ( ~~Were they unwilling in becoming Assets?  Prisoners?  Experiments?  Is that why their memories were removed?~~ )  Why was it that their previous handlers had made them forget the English language?  Would that not be a useful skill for their Assets to retain?

The Assets are told that their new owners are an organization called HYDRA.  This name seems familiar, but they show no reaction to it.  If it is important, they will eventually remember.  The Assets are told that they are tools who will complete the missions they are given; it should not matter who owns them.

For some reason, they disagree with their owners.  It makes all the difference.


	3. The Last Move

**_The Last Move_ **

There is a long string of missions that the Assets are put through consecutively; no storage between.

These missions appear to be building towards a large maneuver on HYDRA’s part.  The base where the Assets return to between missions has grown busy, loud and crowded.  Their handlers have grown forgetful in all the activity and their wipes are few and far between.

This may have caused the Soldier to remember a call sign he was previously comfortable using for the Captain.

“Steve,” the Soldier calls the next time they are alone.

“Buck,” the Captain replies.

The Soldier feels…  The Soldier feels content with this usage.

*             *             *

The Assets are given a target together.   This is the last of a long string of missions before they’ll be put back into storage.  The Soldier wonders if HYDRA will ever need to take them out of storage again.  The Soldier cares much more about that answer than he should.

However, the Soldier is relieved that this stint is almost over.  His head is becoming muddled the longer he is out of storage.  The Soldier is almost dreading being wiped again.

The Soldier is also starting to refer to himself as a ‘he’.

This is incorrect.  The Soldier is an Asset.  He is a tool, an ‘it’, not a person.  It is occurrences like this that show that the Soldier is not functioning at optimum levels.

The Soldier does not change his pronouns back.  Nor does he alert his handlers.

*             *             *

Their last target is very high level.  He is the director of SHIELD; the agency that HYDRA masquerades as.

The Assets manage to corner the target.  The Captain approaches the target as a distraction, being better at close combat, especially with his shield in hand.  The target recognizes the Captain as he approaches, but not because he is an Asset of HYDRA.

“C’mon, fucking listen to me!  You are Steve Rogers: Captain America.  You fight against HYDRA, not for it!”

The Soldier, though he has a clear shot, hesitates in pulling the trigger.  The target knows ‘Steve’, his private call sign for the Captain.

“Steve?” the Soldier asks, questioning the course of action.

The target’s eyes widen at the Soldier also using the call sign ‘Steve’.

The Captain hesitates himself, but motions for the Soldier to continue, to take the shot.

The Soldier fires. 

The Captain approaches the dropped target and slits his throat to ensure the target’s death.

The target’s last breath bubbles out with the blood flowing from his throat.  Only silence remains.

*             *             *

The Assets hesitate in returning to their handlers.

“He called you Steve Rogers.  Is that a name?”

“Yes—yes, I think it might be my name.”

The Captain—Steve—tilts his head and looks at the Soldier in concentration.

“Bucky Barnes?”

The Soldier feels a tickle in his mind at that name.

“Maybe,” he concedes.

Regardless, the Assets do not want to be wiped.  The Assets do not want to be at full functionality if it means losing memory of these call signs.

Steve stiffens.  The Soldier goes on high alert.

“To the end of the line,” Steve breathes.

It’s the Soldier’s turn to freeze.

Bucky—for he _is_ Bucky—remembers Steve.  He remembers a time before being an Asset for Hydra.  Before being an Asset for Red Room.  He remembers caring for small and sickly Steve in a dingy little apartment.  He remembers picking up little Steve after a fight in an alley.  He remembers protecting the back of big, strong Steve in a war.

“To the end of the line,” Bucky breathes in reply.

The Assets do not return to HYDRA.  They do not wish to be assets any longer.

**Author's Note:**

> I *maybe* have an idea for a sequel, but will hold no promises regarding this. I have two other WIPs that I am committed to seeing through (although neither currently have an end in sight), as well as a third piece I’m working to write out in its entirety before posting.
> 
> As always, please comment any thoughts, questions, or emotional outbursts! I love hearing from you! And Kudos are also gladly welcomed; they feed this author’s soul!


End file.
